COVID-19 News from Around the Web

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday that COVID-19 vaccines may not be initially recommended for children, when they become available. Children, who rarely have severe COVID-19 symptoms, have not yet been tested for any experimental coronavirus vaccine. The CDC said so far early clinical trials have only included non-pregnant adults, noting the recommended groups could change in the future as clinical trials expand to recruit more people…. The CDC also said bit.ly/2STnLf3 on Wednesday that any coronavirus vaccine would, at least at first, be used under the Food and Drug Administration's emergency use authorization, and that there could be a limited supply of vaccines before the end of 2020.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, told "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell that the United States needs to redouble its efforts to contain the coronavirus as we enter the fall and winter months…. He noted that coronavirus cases are surging in 37 states, a concerning rise affecting over three-quarters of the country.…. The surge could be made worse as families across the country travel and gather for the holiday season. Fauci said some beloved traditions, like big Thanksgiving gatherings, may need to be avoided this year to keep people safe…."You may have to bite the bullet and sacrifice that social gathering, unless you're pretty certain that the people that you're dealing with are not infected."

U.S. states saw another 898,000 Americans file first-time unemployment insurance claims last week, representing an unexpected rise in new claims with the pandemic still under way and another round of fiscal stimulus still out of reach... At 825,000, the expected number of new jobless claims would have represented the seventh straight week that initial claims came in below the 1 million mark. However, new claims have held stubbornly above 800,000 for as many weeks, with a steady stream of new layoffs continuing to weigh on the economic recovery.

Melania Trump said Wednesday that her and the president’s teenage son, Barron, tested positive for the coronavirus not long after his parents, but had no symptoms. She made the revelation in a lengthy note chronicling her personal experience with COVID-19, including being hit with a “roller coaster” of symptoms that she treated naturally with vitamins and healthy food. Mrs. Trump said she is now negative and hopes to resume her duties soon. After she and President Donald Trump tested positive earlier this month, the White House said 14-year-old Barron had tested negative. Barron later tested positive for the virus but had no symptoms, she said Wednesday, adding that he has since tested negative again.

Alabama coach Nick Saban and athletic director Greg Byrne have tested positive for COVID-19, three days before the second-ranked Crimson Tide is set to face No. 3 Georgia in a clash of Southeastern Conference and national powers. Both said their tests Wednesday morning came back positive, and Saban said in a statement that he “immediately left work and isolated at home.” Saban, who monitored practice Wednesday from home, said he didn’t have any symptoms as of early evening. But the second-ranked Crimson Tide will almost certainly be without their iconic 68-year-old coach on the sideline when they play Georgia.

The number of new Covid-19 cases is going up across the Midwest as the temperature is going down, the latest NBC News statistics showed Wednesday. Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska and Wisconsin have seen a greater than 25 percent increase in coronavirus cases in the last two weeks compared to the two weeks before. Minnesota has reported more than a thousand new Covid-19 cases for six days in a row, something that hasn’t happened since the start of the pandemic. Wisconsin set a single day record for coronavirus deaths on Tuesday with 31, the statistics show. And states like Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and Wyoming have some of the highest rates of new infections in the country, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. Ohio, a state that had for a time been able to flatten the curve, shattered its single day record for reported cases with 2,039, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

There's more evidence that blood type may affect a person's risk for COVID-19 and severe illness from the disease. The findings are reported in a pair of studies published Oct. 14 in the journal Blood Advances. In one, researchers compared more than 473,000 people in Denmark with COVID-19 to more than 2.2 million people in the general population. Among the COVID-19 patients, there was a lower percentage of people with blood type O and higher percentages of those with with types A, B and AB. The findings suggest that people with A, B or AB blood may be more likely to be infected with COVID-19 than people with type O blood. Infection rates were similar among people with types A, B and AB blood. The other study included 95 critically ill COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Canada. Patients with type A or AB blood were more likely to require mechanical ventilation, suggesting that they had greater rates of lung injury from COVID-19. More patients with type A and AB blood required dialysis for kidney failure, the study added.

Scientists from Britain’s University of Oxford have developed a rapid COVID-19 test able to identify the coronavirus in less than five minutes, researchers said on Thursday, adding it could be used in mass testing at airports and businesses. The university said it hoped to start product development of the testing device in early 2021 and have an approved device available six months afterwards. The device is able to detect the coronavirus and distinguish it from other viruses with high accuracy, the researchers said in a pre-print study.

The European Commission urged member nations on Thursday to step up preparations against the new surge of coronavirus infections and recommended common measures to roll out vaccines should they become available. With new cases hitting about 100,000 daily, Europe has by a wide margin overtaken the United States, where an average of more than 51,000 COVID-19 infections is reported every day. “Time is running out,” said EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, urging greater coordination in tracing infections.

Global stock markets and US futures retreated on Thursday as a second wave of coronavirus cases triggered more restrictions in Europe and negotiations in Washington over financial help for struggling workers and businesses remained deadlocked. S&P 500 and Dow futures declined by more than 1%, and Nasdaq futures shed 1.8%. Germany's DAX (DAX) dropped over 3% in morning trading, and France's CAC 40 (CAC40) dipped 2.5%. The FTSE 100 (UKX) posted losses of 2.4% in London. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (HSI) led Asian markets lower, closing down 2.1%. Weeks of negotiations between Republicans and Democrats on another major stimulus package for the US economy have failed to produce results, and hopes are fading that a compromise can be reached before the presidential election on November 3.